Hell Helps Keep Society Safe

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Hell has its benefits. A strong belief in fiery punishment is
good for a country's crime rates, indicates a new study that
looked at religious belief and crime data from around the world.

While the researchers found stronger belief in hell was linked to
less crime, the opposite turned out to be true for a belief in
heaven. This suggests countries where citizens put more stock in
heaven than in hell suffer from higher crime
rates, and the bigger the gap, the worse the crime, the
analysis revealed.

The findings fit with growing evidence that belief in
supernatural punishment is a cultural innovation that spread
across ancient societies, because it effectively motivated people
to cooperate and suppress anti-social behavior, the research team
writes in research detailed earlier this month in the journal
PLoS ONE.

The researchers, Azim Shariff from the University of Oregon and
Mijke Rhemtulla of the University of Kansas, drew upon survey
data collected from 143,197 people in 67 countries between 1981
and 2007. The surveys asked people if they believed in "Heaven,"
"Hell" and "God." They calculated crime rates using United
Nations statistics on crimes from human trafficking and homicide
to auto theft and burglary. [ The
10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors ]

This shows religious belief does not have a uniform effect on
people's behavior, Shariff said in a statement.

"Once you split religion into different constructs (a belief in
hell versus heaven, for example), you begin to see different
relationships. In this study, we found two differences that go in
opposite directions. If you look at
overall religious belief, these separate directions are
washed out and you don't see anything. There's no hint of a
relationship."

As for why beliefs in heaven and hell are linked with crime, the
researchers have some ideas.

"At this stage, we can only speculate about mechanisms, but it's
possible that people who don't believe in the possibility of
punishment in the afterlife feel like they can get away with
unethical behavior," Shariff said in a statement. "There is less
of a divine deterrent."